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IDS made ¿error¿ says report on Betsygate

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH has been criticised by parliament??s anti-sleaze watchdog over the ??Betsygate?? affair despite being cleared of the main charges.

A report by Sir Philip Mawer, leaked to the Sunday Times, finds he made an ??error?? over office funding rules, although it was unintentional. There ??is nothing to cast doubt on the integrity or honesty of Mr Duncan Smith??.

But Mawer, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, does take a dim view of Duncan Smith for trying to browbeat members of staff who refused to back his story.

MPs on the Commons standards and privileges committee received the report last week and will discuss it on Tuesday.

The row began on the eve of the Tory conference last October when it was alleged that Duncan Smith made improper payments to his wife Betsy. Mawer launched an investigation into claims by the journalist Michael Crick that Duncan Smith, then still party